


Chipped

by cerezsis



Series: Chipped [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Background Character Death, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, F/F, Fake Character Death, Gem Egg Hell, Gemlings, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mentions of Violence, Not Really Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-01-25 03:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21349165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cerezsis/pseuds/cerezsis
Summary: When a gem from her past comes knocking at Homeworld’s door, White Diamond is forced to reveal her most guarded secrets. How will the other diamonds react, and will the truth be enough to save them?
Relationships: Blue Diamond & White Diamond & Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe), Steven Universe & White Diamond, White Diamond & Original Character, White Diamond & Spinel, White Diamond/Original Gem Character(s) (Steven Universe)
Series: Chipped [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1539031
Comments: 6
Kudos: 85





	1. Uninvited

The deafening shriek of the alarm blared throughout the palace walls. All preparations for that night’s ball were suddenly on hold as Blue and Yellow Diamond hurried down the halls. Steven, who had been helping Spinel in the ballroom, hurried over to them. He’d seen enough movies to know that something like this meant danger was imminent.

“What’s going on?” Steven asked, practically sprinting in order to keep pace with the diamond’s large steps.

“We’re under attack,” Yellow stated, though her tone didn’t match the urgency of her words.

“What?!”

“Oh no, no, no, it’s not like that,” Blue assured him, “Our alarms are occasionally triggered when large space debris get too close to the planet. We have protocols in place to deal with it. We just need to turn off the alarm.”

Steven signed in relief. Just a quick press of a button, and everything would be fine. Spinel was so excited to be throwing her first ball, and with how the last one he attended ended, Steven was really hoping that this one would be less of a fiasco. The last thing anyone needed was uninvited party crashers.

White Diamond caught up to them just as they reached the control room.

“Stars, we need to upgrade that alarm,” she sighed, exasperated, “I’d prefer to only be alerted to _real_ emergencies.”

“I’ll assign one of my gems to that when we’re done here,” Yellow agreed, placing her hand on the diamond-shaped control panel.

The control room door opened, and the diamonds expressions dropped. The lights were flashing red, and the large monitor in the middle of the room was flashing a phrase in the gem’s written language that Steven was unable to read. He had a sneaking suspicion that this was more than just space debris.

“Um… what does that say?” Steven asked.

Before he could get an answer, another message appeared on screen. The diamonds approached the monitor with caution, Steven following behind them.

“We have an incoming message,” Yellow translated for Steven. She touched the monitor, turning off the alarm and displaying a wall of text, this time containing characters notably different from the gem’s written language.

“Well that’s new,” Steven said, “Can you guys read that?”

“Yes, of course,” Blue said.

“I haven’t seen anyone use this text since-”

Yellow was cut off by an image appearing on the wall of text. Inside a circle of the same color, a blue, bipedal reptilian-looking being stood, its long, spiked limbs spread to touch the boundary of the circle. White’s eyes widened. 

“That’s… that’s impossible!” she stammered, breathlessly.

All eyes were suddenly on her.

“You’ve seen this symbol before?” Blue asked. 

Not taking her eyes off the screen, White took a moment to answer. “A long time ago…”

The text and symbol faded away, switching to what appeared to be a video. The quality wasn’t great, obviously shot with old technology, but they could still easily make out the image on the screen. A feminine-bodied individual stood in a dimly lit room, staring down so that her face was obscured. For a moment the screen appeared to glitch, but they quickly realized it wasn’t the screen, but the being herself. She was a gem, and a damaged one at that.

The lights slowly brightened, revealing more details of her form. Her coloring was comparable to the grayscale: her body a light gray, her long, fitted dress varying shades of gray and black, and her long, curly hair completely white. Her gem was on her naval and in the shape of a downward facing triangle, though the finer details, such as the extent of its damage, was obscured by the video’s quality. Disturbingly, her long, thin body appeared to have a few small chunks missing, resembling something like a chipped porcelain doll. Slowly, she began to lift her head, revealing not only the large chunk missing from her throat – a crack from which ran all the way up to the top of her left cheek – but her emotionless eyes; one glowing white and one normal. The entirety of the right side of her face seemed to be incapable of expressing emotion, while the left side could only show very little.

White let out an audible, horrified gasp. “It can’t be!”

Before anyone could even turn to face her, their attention was snatched back by the gem on screen. Her movement slow and fatigued, she began to raise her arm, pointing to the camera as if in warning.

A loud _THUMP_ came from behind, startling the group and tearing their attention away from the screen. White Diamond’s gem laid on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's interested, here's a drawing I made yesterday of the mystery gem featured in this story https://twitter.com/cerezsis/status/1192166354733981696


	2. Revelations Pending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With White out of commission, it’s up to the others to piece together who this new threat is.

There was a good minute of panicking before anyone even thought to pick up White Diamond’s gem; it was like they were hornets in a nest that had been hit with a rock. Everyone’s minds were buzzing with questions and adrenaline, meanwhile the queen hornet’s corpse laid under the rock.

“Who was that gem!?” Steven asked, pointing at the monitor, now frozen with the image of the vengeful gray gem.

“No idea,” Yellow said, as she finally came to her senses enough to pick up White’s gem.

“We’ve never seen her before,” Blue confirmed.

“How did she do that to White!?”

“She didn’t.” Yellow still didn’t look up from the gem in her hand.

“Our forms sometimes dissipate when we get a strong enough influx of emotion,” Blue explained, “If just seeing her was enough to do that to White…” She trailed off.

“Ok, so _White_ definitely knows who she is,” Steven said, more to calm himself down than anything else, “We just have to wait for her to get back so we can figure all this out. How long does she usually take to reform?”

Blue and Yellow looked to each other.

“She’s never reformed before, has she?”

“Not that we’re aware of,” Blue confirmed, somberly.

“Well it won’t do us any good just standing around,” Yellow interjected, “We need to prepare ourselves for battle.”

A realization suddenly dawned on Steven. “We better tell Spinel the ball’s canceled.”

\--

Spinel stared at the large, white gem in Yellow’s hand, her mouth agape. Many questions ran through her mind, but none would leave her throat.

“We’re sorry, Spinel,” Steven said, “We know you’ve been working hard for tonight.”

Spinel forced her gaze away from White’s gem.

“Well, I can just reschedule. I wouldn’t want to have it without White there, anyway.”

Blue and Yellow nodded.

“We need to start digging through the archives,” Yellow declared, “Whoever this gem is, there has to be a record of her somewhere.”

With an unspoken agreement, the small group followed Yellow to the archive room. Opening the door, they were met with thousands upon thousands, possibly even millions upon millions of shelves and drawers, all laid out in neatly organized rows. Steven and Spinel’s eyes widened as they made their way down the center of the never-ending maze, every now and then passing by a diamond-sized table with four chairs seated around it. Steven thought of the library he’d sometimes visit with Connie back in Beach City, and how many times over that library could fit in this one room.

After what felt like a few miles of walking, Yellow finally stopped at one of the tables, gently setting White’s gem down on its smooth surface.

“We’ll start here and make our way down.”

“Um…” Spinel spoke up, looking back down the infinite stretch of shelves, “Isn’t this gonna… take a while?”

“We don’t have any other option. We have to know who this enemy is.”

With that, she began assigning everyone sections of files to dig through. Despite this combined effort, it took just under two hours to get through one row. They moved from row to row, each time coming up empty. All the while, White’s gem still rested, motionless, on the table.

Fourteen hours into the endeavor, they still had nothing, and they’d barely managed to even make a dent in the archives. Steven couldn’t help but feel that he was partly to blame for that. They’d certainly be moving a lot faster if he could do more than just examine picture and video files.

Just as he had this thought, he spotted something in the video he was watching. He paused the video, his tired eyes widening as he fully registered what he was seeing.

“Guys, I got something!”

The others dropped what they were doing and gathered around him. The video in question was of an old fighting arena, gems from all courts gathered to watch the final fight before it was to be demolished and replaced with a new, more modern arena. Several large statues of White Diamond lined the pillars, the bases of which contained writing in a strange, yet familiar language.

“It’s the same language from the message!” Steven said, pointing to the pillars, “You guys said you’ve seen it before. What’s it doing _here_?”

A light clicked on in Blue and Yellow’s heads.

“Of course! How could we have overlooked that?” Blue said mostly to herself. 

“It’s an ancient form of our written language. It predates even Blue and I,” Yellow explained, “We stopped using it shortly after Pink emerged.”

“Which means this gem predates Pink!” Blue thought out loud, “We need to move farther back, to the files from the early days of Era One. Perhaps even the later files on Era Zero.”

“Era Zero?” Steven asked, intrigued.

“That’s not it’s official name,” Yellow clarified, “It’s just shorthand for the time before Blue and I came into existence.”

“I thought Era One started after Pink emerged?” Spinel questioned.

“It’s a bit complicated. White doesn’t like to admit it, but Pink _was_ supposed to emerge with Blue and I. She came out a few hundred years late, so while on paper it reads that Era One began at her emergence, it _technically_ started earlier.”

Before anything else could be said, a bright glow suddenly came from behind them. The group turned to see White’s gem beginning to hover, followed quickly by the formation of a large, white silhouette. In less than a moment, White Diamond was standing on top of the table where her gem had been resting, her form mostly the same as before, with only a few minor changes to the coloring and design of her leotard.

“White!” everyone cried in unison.

Before she could even get down from the table, White found herself surrounded by the others.

“White, that gem from the message,” Blue began, relieved both by White’s appearance and that they wouldn’t have to dig through the files anymore, “Who was she?”

“We’ve been searching through the archives for _hours_, and we haven’t found any files on her,” Yellow added, “We think that-”

“There are no files on her,” White cut her off, “I destroyed them long ago.” She climbed down from the table, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze. “Her name is Gray Diamond. I made her when I was very young.”

This was news to Blue and Yellow.

“Gray…” Blue tailed off.

“How is that possible? You said that us and Pink were your only personal creations.”

“That wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t entirely the truth either.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Yellow demanded.

“It means there’s things about myself that I haven’t told you. Things I’ve kept guarded for longer than the two of you have been alive.” She gestured to the four of them to follow her. “There’s something I have to show you.” 


	3. Era Zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> White Diamond reveals her origins, and how she came to create Gray Diamond.

The group was dead silent as they followed White through her wing of the palace. White’s gaze was straight ahead, and her thoughts a mile away. She’d kept this door locked for eons, never intending to reveal its contents to anyone. The thought of having to open it, especially in front of everyone, was terrifying. Every inch of her being was telling her to stop, to retreat to her room and bar the door, but that wasn’t an option. Not this time.

“I haven’t been honest about my origins,” White began, the disassociation in her voice weighing heavily, “In fact, I don’t believe I’ve said much about it at all. I was made by a race of beings called cessineans. They were an organic species, and the original occupants of Homeworld and its first six colonies. They created not only myself, but gemkind as a whole. I was the newest gem type, created to protect and govern the cessineans… and I didn’t emerge alone.”

She turned a corner, leading them through an older, seldom used corridor.

“Her name was Black Diamond. We were to rule Homeworld together, and if that was a success, our rule was to expand to the colonies. Despite our power, we were bound to the word of the cessineans. They made us gems to serve as their servants and soldiers. We served _their_ empire, fought _their_ wars, and built _their_ colonies.

“It was just a few years into our existence that Black and I had an epiphany. Our purpose was to create the perfect world, but a perfect world couldn’t exist with the cessinean in it. They were…” She paused, realizing that Steven would correct her if she continued with her original thought. “… what I considered _at the time_ to be an inferior species. Us gems were created to be the perfect soldiers, the perfect servants, the perfect _beings_. So what were we doing serving such an inferior race? If we were to truly have the perfect empire, the cessineans had to be eliminated.”

Steven stopped, his eyes widening in horror. “So you _killed_ them all?”

“I did what I… what I _thought_ had to be done.” Still looking away, she urged them all to press on. “It wasn’t a simple task. Even with our superiority, the cessineans has us outnumbered. For every one of us, there were a hundred of them. We had to –”

“This is a fascinating history lesson, but we’ve wasted enough time already,” Yellow interrupted, her tone cold and eyes narrowed with impatience, “What exactly is the _point_ of telling us any of this? These cessineans have _what_ exactly to do with what’s happening now?”

White paused and spared a glance at Yellow. On any other day, she would’ve reprimanded her for interrupting, but her mind was too far elsewhere.

“That symbol that came with the message, it was the cessinean’s emblem. I had all trace of their rein destroyed after I won the war. No one should know what it looked like, or that it ever existed at all.”

Yellow blinked. “So for us to have seen it means a few of them escaped you?”

“I… suppose so, yes.”

“Fantastic.” Yellow would’ve rolled her eyes, had she not been speaking directly to White Diamond. “And what of Black? Why, after all this time, have you decided we need to know about her existence _now_? And when exactly does _Gray _Diamond come into all this?”

White didn’t answer right away. There was a painful knot in her chest as she began walking again.

“Black and I… we always had a… a strong bond. She was the first face I saw when I emerged, the being I was supposed to spend eternity with. We even shared a… bit of a psychic connection. I could always tell when she was feeling things strongly, and she could always tell with me. I loved her with all my being.”

Finally, they reached their destination. To the others, it looked like she’d taken them to a bare wall, but White knew all too well the secrets it held. Hesitantly, she touched a spot on the wall, causing the space around her hand to glow in the shape of a diamond. The camouflage faded away, revealing an old door. Another touch from White, and it opened.

The air in the room was stale and heavy with dust. Ancient artifacts were piled haphazardly across the floor, barely leaving enough space for a walking path. Leaning up against the walls were the remains of murals, their surfaces covered so thickly with dust that the only way they were even identifiable as murals was the elegant shapes of their frames. Strange pieces of diamond-size furniture were laid out throughout the room, seemingly the only things that were originally intended to be in there. Blue, Yellow, and Spinel were very confused as to what the purpose of the furniture could have been, but Steven recognized it almost immediately. The designs were vintage by human standards, but it was unmistakably nursery furniture.

“Black and I had a vision for the empire, one we knew we wouldn’t be able to complete with just the two of us,” White continued, staring longingly at the ancient galaxy mobile that hung from the ceiling, “And with the war with the cessineans still raging on, we needed to prove to gems everywhere that our word was greater than the organics. That our _rule_ was greater than the organics. In short, we… With intent to spite their laws, Black and I made life together. Gray Diamond is our daughter.”

The whiplash from White’s words hit almost immediately. No one seemed to remember how to form a coherent sentence. The floor could’ve caved in and the whole planet imploded, and they would’ve been left with less questions and confusion than they had now.

“But…” Steven finally stammered, “Gems can’t…”

“They can’t _anymore_,” White corrected, “And since you’re all so uninterested in “history lessons,” I’ll save that for another day. All you need to know is that I _do_ possess the ability to incubate a gem in my body.”

None of them uttered another word. White’s brow unfurrowed, and her gaze once again refused to meet the others.

“I gave birth to Gray after a pivotal battle against the cessineans. With our new child and latest victory, Black and I knew our triumph would be imminent. We enjoyed just under two decades as a family before…” She paused, trying to suppress whatever it was she felt welling up in her chest. “We only had one more cessinean colony to conquer before we were truly victorious. I needed to observe the production of our latest batch of soldiers, so Black and Gray traveled ahead of me to the rendezvous point. I still have no idea how the cessineans knew…”

She stopped herself again. The lump in her chest was rising to her throat. “The day I was supposed to meet them, I was informed that our base had been bombed. I refused to believe it. I refused to believe…

“There was barely anything left.” Despite her efforts, she couldn’t stop her voice from shaking. “Our base, our gems, it was all in ruins. All of it, just… gone. I found their shards scattered together in the rubble. Do you know what that’s like? Do you have any idea what that _does_ to you? To scour through rubble, knowing you’re just looking for remains, to hold _your_ _baby’s shards _in your –”

The lump in her throat she’d been fighting finally rose enough to force her words to stop. She quickly turned away, trying to hide the tears that stung dangerously in her eyes, and quietly chastising herself for breaking now. After all this time, why did she have to be so weak, and right in front of everyone?

Spinel was the first to approach her, followed quickly by Steven. White hesitated but allowed herself to drop to her knees to be comforted by them. Though the size difference made it difficult, they embraced her the best they could. Blue and Yellow stood, frozen in place. Neither of them quite knew what to do.

“I can’t remember much of what happened after that,” White admitted, somberly, “I know I killed many cessineans, even shattered some gems in my grief, but I can’t… I won the war, that’s all I know. In less than a year, the cessineans were obliterated.” She turned her head towards Blue and Yellow, though none of them made eye contact.

“I spent a few millennia alone before I even started the process of bringing you two and Pink into existence. Before I could do that, I needed to take Black and Gray _out_ of existence. I spent eons remaking and replacing gems, dismantled statues, and destroyed all records even mentioning Black and Gray. Anything I couldn’t bring myself to destroy, I tossed in here. I couldn’t allow their memory to haunt me any longer, and I couldn’t allow myself to love like that again. I couldn’t afford… Once that was done, I made you three, and Era One began.”

The room fell silent. No one quite knew where to go from there.

“White…” Blue began, hesitantly, “If what you’re saying is true, if the base they were in was bombed… how is Gray Diamond alive?”

“I don’t have an answer for that. Not one gem was found intact, or even completely recovered. Even Black was missing 30% of her shards. With Gray being so young, I assumed her gem had been more easily obliterated by the blast. For her to have survived at all…”

Deafening silence befell them once again but was quickly interrupted by the sudden shriek of the alarm. Jumping at the sudden noise, the five of them looked to each other, dread sinking in as they realized what this meant; Gray Diamond and the cessineans were here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to put out a chapter a week, but with next week being Thanksgiving (my family's hosting this year) I most likely won't be able to finish the next chapter in my usual time frame. Hope you understand. Have a happy Thanksgiving (and if you're not in the US, have a happy Thursday)!


	4. Smoke and Mirrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gray Diamond prepares for her attack on Homeworld.

Asteroids and other space debris zoomed by as the ship began its entry into Homeworld’s galaxy. Gray’s gaze was straight ahead, the glowing white planet finally starting to enter her line of sight. She could hardly contain her elation as she watched the tiny dot slowly grow bigger and bigger. She’d dreamed of this moment her entire life; the moment when she’d finally be able to stand in front of White Diamond, look her in the eye, and force her to watch as everything she fought so hard for came crumbling down around her. Oh, how sweet that moment would be. The only thing missing was Black Diamond. Had Black been alive to witness it too, everything would be perfect.

Well, no, that wasn’t all that was missing. Pink Diamond wouldn’t be there either. Oh, how she’d love to hold all three of the new diamonds in her hand and make White watch as she crushed them into dust. Alas, Pink’s half-human son would have to suffice.

Her thoughts were interrupted by what felt like an electric current rippling through her body. Her form glitching was something she’d dealt with all her life, but with no rhyme or reason to their occurrences, they managed to catch her off guard every time.

The sudden interruption of her thoughts also brought the searing pain in her right hip screaming to her attention. Biting the inside of her mouth, Gray put the ship on autopilot and stood up from the controls. She groaned internally as she chastised herself for staying seated for so long.

Massaging the gouged-out portion of her hip, she decided to check in on the cessineans back in the ship’s cabin. Moving slowly due to the lingering pain, she made her way through the ship’s halls.

Though it was difficult to express it physically, Gray couldn’t have been happier that the cessineans were finally out of their cryo-sleep. After eons of having only the lifeless robonoids to spend time with, it was wonderful to finally have some sentient companions.

Peaking into the cabin, Gray observed the twelve of them huddled around the map, making the final preparations for the attack. She longed to join in on the conversation, but with no voice to speak with, that was impossible. Mournfully, she lifted her hand to her throat, touching the gash that rendered her mute. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Black and White’s unauthorized breeding left her with cosmetic damage, it had to leave her with physical limitations too.

Burning fires of hatred began to well up inside of Gray. Black and White, her sire and carrier – she refused to call them her mothers, they’d done nothing to earn the title – were the most heartless, hateful beings in all the known universe. Turning against their creators, unleashing unspeakable horrors on countless innocents, abandoning _their own_ newborn baby just because she was flawed; their soullessness knew no bounds.

Gray glanced back at the cessineans, still hard at work to the point they still hadn’t taken notice of her presence. She was so grateful to them. Had they not found her when they did, hours old and left out in the elements, she most certainly would’ve perished. It was thanks to the twelve of them, the great and noble leaders of the cessinean race, that she survived up to this point. They gave her everything; shelter, nourishment, and robonoids to care for her until she could care for herself. Gray would do anything to see them returned to power.

As quietly as she came, Gray turned around and headed back to the cockpit. She thought of how wonderful life would be, now that she was no longer confined to the safety of the asteroid base. The cessineans had promised her the diamond’s palace, of which she would be free to come and go from as they rebuilt their own species. She imagined all the gems she’d surround herself with, perhaps even young cessineans one day, if she proved herself enough.

Entering the cockpit, the first thing Gray saw was that glowing, ruined planet, having effectively tripled in size since she last saw it. Smiling as much as she physically could, she gave a slow but graceful twirl, like the ones she’d seen the dancers do in the video archives, back in her adolescence. Had her hip not still been throbbing, she could’ve fully recreated those graceful dances. Their victory, her revenge, it was all so close she could –

Suddenly, Gray’s thoughts were interrupted, but not by the usual glitch of her form. She was frozen in place and the small smile she’d managed to muster vanished. Something was appearing in her mind’s eye. Focusing her energy, she was able to fully make out this vision. The being in her mind was strange, but she recognized him immediately. It was the boy from the message she intercepted a few months back, the one that caused her to wake the cessineans in the first place.

“Gray Diamond!” Steven Universe began, “Please listen to me!”


	5. Hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven tries to get through to Gray by showing her the truth about her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major blood and gore warning for this one! Tread cautiously.

Gray’s body trembled with a mixture of fury and confusion. She had no idea how this hybrid got in her head, but she was _not_ about to let him stay there! The world around her faded to static as she fully manifested in the mind space.

“How dare you!” she shouted in her head, “What makes you think you have the right to invade my mind!? When I get my hands on you –”

Steven froze. “You can see me?”

“Of course I –” Gray froze too, her own realization dawning on her. “You can _hear_ me?”

Steven nodded.

The two of them stood, staring at each other in bewilderment. Touching the gash in her throat, Gray stood upright and her muscles relaxed a bit.

“… Hello,” was all she could think to say.

“Um, hi.” Steven floated closer to her. “How are you able to see me? Whenever I’ve been in the mind space before, no one’s been –”

His words were cut off by something appearing in his peripheral. After a better look, he saw what appeared to be a butterfly, only… not. Its shape was on point, but its coloring was completely gray, and it was surrounded by a smokey aura that trailed behind it as it fluttered.

“My powers are based on illusion,” Gray explained, the smokey insect landing gracefully in her stretched out palm, “I can project images such as this, and make others see things that aren’t there. I suppose the opposite is true too, and I can see things others can’t.”

The butterfly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Steven nodded, satisfied enough with that answer.

“I just wanna talk to you, Gray. Why are you doing this? Why are you attacking your own mother?”

Gray scoffed. “Are you serious? _Why?_ Did she tell you what she did to the cessineans? What she did to _me_?”

“What she did to the cessineans was wrong, but we can make it right without fighting. Things have changed. _White_ has changed. We can –”

“What about _me_? Did she tell you what she did to _me_? Her own child! She can’t be trusted, Steven! What kind of monster does that to her own baby?”

“What happened to you was the cessineans doing. White never –”

“Oh, so the _cessineans_ made her abandon me?” Gray once again interrupted, her tone mocking and increasing with anger. “The _cessineans_ made her reject me at birth? _They_ made her and Black toss me away like trash?”

Steven stared at her, blankly. “What… did the cessineans tell you?”

“What did White tell _you_? Look at me! You’ve met her! You know how she treats things that are flawed, how she treats beings that she deems “beneath” her!”

“That’s… That’s not…” He tried to think of how to explain it to her. “White loved you, Gray. She and Black _both_ loved you! White’s been mourning you for centuries! She never –”

Rage seething through her core, Gray grabbed Steven, holding him tightly in her fist.

“You don’t know anything!” Gray screamed. “They _loved_ me? Liar! Mocking me isn’t going to save you! When I get to Homeworld, I will shatter you first!”

“Wait!” Steven pleaded as Gray prepared to throw him out of the mind space. He couldn’t leave yet. He needed to show her the truth, but how? This wasn’t like when he tried to reach out to Blue and Yellow. How was he supposed to –

“_It must be a trick!_” Yellow’s voice suddenly echoed, “_Show yourself, foe!_”

Steven’s eyes popped open, and Gray froze in her tracks. They were surrounded by the projection of Yellow, Blue, and Steven from that fateful day two years ago. Gray let go of Steven in her astonishment, and the projection faded away.

“What… was that?” Gray asked.

Wondering the same thing, Steven looked to Gray. Curious, he reached out for her still outstretched hand. The memory projected around them again, the way it surrounded them reminding Steven of the observation device Lapis showed him on the moon base.

“_I’m not your foe!_” Steven of the past pleaded, “_Please just listen to me!_”

Coming to her senses, Gray drew her hand back.

“What was that?” she demanded once again.

Steven turned to look her in the eye. “I… think when my mind powers mix with your illusion powers, we’re able to see each other’s memories.”

Gray raised an eyebrow. “You say that as if it’s a common occurrence.”

“This kind of stuff happens to me a lot,” Steven shrugged.

Gray’s face contorted in even more confusion. Grinning, Steven offered her his hand. She hesitated, but curiosity won out. With reservation, she touched his much smaller hand.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by a shiny, metallic room. On one side, giant sheets of paper were scattered across the floor. On the other, a variety of carefully crafted paper flowers sat piled on the floor. A much younger Gray Diamond sat in front of a large screen that was mounted on the wall. Her long, white curls flowed freely over her shoulders, and her dress reminded Steven of something out of the Edwardian era. Her scars and gashes were as present as they were today, but her face was rounder and more child-like.

The younger Gray continued to fold the piece of paper in her hands as an old cessinean comedy program played on the screen in front of her. Something had happed that made her giggle, but no sound came out. Her body just trembled as one would do when laughing.

“Is this what you did all day?” Steven asked.

“Not necessarily. Sometimes I’d preform maintenance on the base. With the cessineans in cryo-sleep, it was my job to keep everyone safe.”

Steven continued to stare at the younger version of Gray. He watched her fold the paper with great precision, her face stoic but a glimmer in her good eye showed joy in what she was doing. Within seconds, what was once a blank piece of paper was now a beautiful, though alien looking lily.

A thought suddenly occurring to him, Steven pulled his hand away from Gray.

“I have an idea,” Steven said, “You don’t believe me when I say that Black and White didn’t abandon you, but if you can see it for yourself, you’ll have to believe it. We can project your memories of them, and you’ll see that I’m telling the truth.”

Gray rolled her eyes. “And what if you’re wrong? What if _I’m_ the one who’s right?”

“Then you’ll prove to _me_ that _you’re_ telling the truth.”

Gray was silent for a moment. “Regardless of who’s right, how is this supposed to work? How are we supposed to project things I don’t even remember?”

Steven’s expression dropped. He hadn’t thought of that. He quickly searched his mind for an answer.

“I saw something on TV once that we can try. I don’t know if it’ll actually work, but… Just hear me out. Close your eyes.”

Gray tilted her head, unsure of where this was going. Despite her uncertainty, she decided the truth was worth the leap of faith. Doing as he instructed, she closed her eyes.

“Now picture a door. Behind that door lies the memories you’ve forgotten, memories of your mothers and your life before the cessineans took you in. Picture that door and focus on it.” He reached out and touched her hand. “Now open it.”

At first, nothing happened, but after a moment of silence, a happy, high pitched squeal echoed in their ears. Gray’s eyes snapped open. The image of toys and shiny things dangling down from two overlapping arches projected around them. Two tiny, chubby gray hands reached up and grabbed what looked like a mirror. In its reflection, there was a bright-eyed, smiling baby, no cracks or gashes to be seen. The infant’s tiny, wispy curls bounced as she flailed her limbs and let out another squeal.

Gray’s eyes were locked on the infant as she raised a trembling hand to touch the gash in her throat. Thousands of questions raced through her head, but she found herself unable to voice any of them.

“_Is she supposed to be this active at this hour?_” a familiar voice asked.

The infant Gray turned her head, now looking towards the two large gems standing next to the sensory gym.

“_Aren’t infants supposed to sleep at night?_” White continued.

The gem standing next to her was equal to her in height, her black dress tight from the waist up, but loose in the skirt, the front of which opened to show her thigh-high boots. Her black hair reached her shoulders, and a square-shaped topknot sat on the top of her head. Like Gray, her chin was rounded, and her gem was on her navel, though its point faced upwards, much like Pink Diamond’s.

“_She’ll eventually grow out of needing to sleep,_” Black Diamond rationalized, though her tone didn’t sound so confident, “_I doubt it matters much_ when_ she sleeps._”

Gray tore her hand away from Steven’s, causing the projection to fade away.

“Is this a trick?” she demanded, “Are you manipulating my memories?”

Steven shook his head. “You’re the one with illusion powers, Gray.”

Gray was frozen in place. Steven gave her a reassuring smile and reached his hand back out for her. Hesitantly, she reached back for him, her hand shaking the entire time.

When they touched this time, a sharp cry pierced the air. A tiny, fussy Gray Diamond clung onto a flustered White, the baby’s face flushed from crying so long. Black Diamond entered the frame, looking to console both her lover and child.

“_She won’t sleep, she won’t eat_,” White listed off, “_It’s been over an hour. She won’t settle down._”

“_Hand her over, darling_,” Black offered, her arms outstretched.

All too eager to hand over her screaming child, White gave Gray to her other mother. The darker diamond stroked the infant’s hair as she cradled her in her arms.

“_You’re causing quite a ruckus, little one._”

Suddenly, images of calming, slow moving clouds began to manifest in front of the infant’s eyes. It was like slowly floating through a dreamland, though she knew she was still in her mother’s arms. Captivated, she watched the clouds go by, her cries finally starting to slow.

Present day Gray also watched the clouds go by. She knew she inherited her powers from her sire, but she never thought she’d whiteness them firsthand. She watched as her younger self’s eyes began to flutter shut, her cries transitioning into hiccups as both her mothers began to quietly hum to her.

As baby Gray’s eyes closed completely, present day Gray let her arm drop to her side, her eyes still locked ahead as the vision faded away.

“Are you ok?” Steven asked.

Gray turned to look at him.

“What did White say happened to me?”

“You and Black were waiting for her at a secret diamond base, and it was bombed by the cessineans. No one survived except you, apparently.”

“How did I survive?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Gray stared at him for a moment, completely silent. Her hand trembling more than ever, she reached back out for him.

“I have to know.”

Steven nodded, and touched her hand.

The sound of Gray’s cried once again filled the air. This time, though, it was accompanied by the frantic voice of Black Diamond.

“_What about the warp pads?_” she pleaded to a gem neither Gray nor Steven recognized, “_If we can’t evacuate with the ships, we can –_”

“_The warps have been deactivated as well_,” the unknown gem informed her, “_There’s no escaping, my diamond. The bomb will hit at any moment_.”

Black turned away from her, a mix of panic, despair, and desperation flooding over her. There was truly nothing she could do. The realization of their fates fully sinking in, she lifted the still crying Gray out of her cradle and held her close.

“_What about your forcefield, my diamond?_” her pearl asked, “_Perhaps –_”

“_The larger my forcefields are, the weaker they are_,” Black cut her off, “_One that big wouldn’t stand a chance against an attack like this._”

Looking down at the infant in her arms, a small spark of hope suddenly glimmered in her eyes.

“_But perhaps…_”

With a heavy heart, Black summoned her forcefield, surrounding Gray in its protective glow. Knowing she could do nothing more than rely on this small slither of hope, she fell to her knees and held her daughter as close as the forcefield would allow.

“_I love you, Gray_.”

In the blink of an eye, everything was engulfed in a bright light, followed by a loud _BOOM!_ Even the memory of the sound was enough to make Steven and present-day Gray’s ears ring.

The bright light faded to black, and within seconds, a metallic room began manifesting around them. Baby Gray had survived and reformed, but she far from unscathed. Her gem had been chipped, leaving her naked body covered in cracks and gashes. She was crying in terror, but no sound escaped her lips. Her right eye glowed white, and her face showed no emotion, aside from the fear in her good eye.

Just a few feet away, twelve cessineans stood, the very same twelve that were on the ship with Gray right now. None of them paid any mind to the terrified, injured infant.

“_I’m telling you, keeping her alive is the best thing we can do_,” one of them explained to the others, “_Look at her. We might’ve made the mistake of making Black and White too autonomous, but that won’t be a problem with her. She’s just a drone now, a mindless robot. She has no choice but to obey our commands._”

Without thinking, Gray quickly let go of Steven, falling to her knees in anguish. She covered her face with her hands and shrieked loud enough that Steven had to cover his ears. Gasping between sobs, she ran her hands through her tied-back hair. Her anguish was so strong she could feel tears manifest on her physical form, outside of the mind space.

Cautiously, Steven approached her and put a hand on her large shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, Gray,” he said, “I didn’t know it would be… Now that you know the truth, you can stop all of this. Without you, the cessineans can’t hurt anyone. You have the power to –”

Before he could finish, he found himself trapped in Gray Diamond’s fist. Hate and anger burned in her eyes as she threw her arm back, and violently tossed him out of the mind space.

Steven gasped as he awoke in a cold sweat. Taking in his surroundings, he saw that he was still on the floor of the nursery, the diamonds and Spinel still surrounding him.

“Did you talk to Gray?” White Diamond pleaded, “What did she say?”

Steven didn’t know how to answer. He clutched his chest as he struggled to catch his breath.

Suddenly, a loud _BOOM_ shook the palace walls, causing even the diamonds to lose their balance, and few artifacts to come falling to the ground. Panicked, all five of them ran out of the room.

Sprinting through the halls, they all stopped in their tracks once the nearest balcony came into view. Gray Diamond stood in between the open curtains; the flaming remains of the cessineans ship plummeting down behind her. Her face was stained with tears, and, much to Steven’s horror, her hands and dress were stained with blood.

White Diamond’s hands trembled as she stared at the damaged face of her daughter. Slowly, Gray began to raise her hand, pointing at White as crimson blood dripped from her fingers. Trying to suppress her shakiness, White approached her.

For a moment, all they did was stare at each other, their eyes locked. Lifting her hands, Gray summoned a smokey, silhouetted image. In it was the likeness of Black and White, the two of them standing close to each other, and lovingly embracing an infant Gray.

The image faded away and White looked up, once again locking eyes with Gray. Slowly, as if afraid she too would disappear in a puff of smoke, White raised a trembling hand and touched Gray’s cracked cheek. Wiping a tear trail away with her thumb, White smiled at her.

“Hello Gray.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading my fan fiction! I plan on writing more stuff for this AU, so stick around!


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